Wellbeing
What foods support natural fertility?
Preparing the body to create and nurture a baby is a wonderful time – the very beginning of a new and significant life journey. In an ideal world it is good to start nourishing your body for conception at least 3–4 months before you start trying to conceive. This is because it takes about that time for the sperm and eggs to mature before they are released. That said, it is never too late to start. One of the primary nutrients is fat. Essential fatty acids are vital for healthy hormones. Avocados can be spread on toast or added to a shake every day, and you can enjoy mackerel, sardines, herring and trout about three times a week. Bigger fish such as tuna may have a high mercury content so are best avoided. Other foods rich in essential fatty acids include ground or soaked flax seeds, walnuts and hemp seeds....
What foods support natural fertility?
Preparing the body to create and nurture a baby is a wonderful time – the very beginning of a new and significant life journey. In an ideal world it is...
Medicine Making: The Art of Herbal Remedy Creation
The ground is stirring, spring is upon us, and wanderers of wild spaces are starting to turn their minds once more to the art of medicine making with plants. Medicine making ranges from simple to complex, depending on your level of knowledge, experience and willingness to have a go. It can be as simple as drying out herbs to store for teas, to as complex as distilling aromatic herbs to create herbal waters and essential oils. We thought another Seed SistAs’ series was due, and in this one, we’ll focus on the art of herbal remedy creation. In this issue, we start with an overview of medicine making and what is involved. Then in each subsequent column, we will look in more depth at some preparations and how to make them. Things to consider Why are you making the remedy? If you are making the remedy for children, you will...
Medicine Making: The Art of Herbal Remedy Creation
The ground is stirring, spring is upon us, and wanderers of wild spaces are starting to turn their minds once more to the art of medicine making with plants. Medicine...
Exercise in pregnancy and new motherhood: pelvi...
Rehana Jawadwala answers your questions on exercise in pregnancy and new motherhood I have just given birth to my second son and I am keen to improve my pelvic floor strength as I have suffered with mild incontinence since the birth of my first child and throughout my recent pregnancy. I try to do some exercises but I tend to forget about them. I feel I need to do something as I don’t want to be suffering with this for years to come. Do you have any advice about what I should be doing and how often? Kay, Cheshire. Congratulations! You have a baby and another child to think about; pelvic floor is hardly going to get a priority slot. Please don’t worry too much as research shows that the majority of women fully recover from a weakened pelvic floor after pregnancy and vaginal birth, with normal day-to-day activities. During...
Exercise in pregnancy and new motherhood: pelvic floor
Rehana Jawadwala answers your questions on exercise in pregnancy and new motherhood I have just given birth to my second son and I am keen to improve my pelvic floor...
A Year in Nature: Winter
With the arrival of winter, Emine Kali Rushton hankers for fire, circles and cocoa... It’s the strangest thing: since life ‘returned to normal’ (“Ha!” my spirit cries, “Who are you kidding?”), and the pace of the everyday picked up, winter arrives in my home not with a sense of dread, but absolute surrender and, if I am honest, quite a bit of relief too. We’re no longer expected to be ‘out’ all the time. This is the season when it feels as though I am granted permission to burrow under blankets with books, drink hot cocoa every night, go up for an extra-early night of nesting and resting (the earlier darkening a gift to anyone feeling depleted) and take as many rain checks as I like – choosing instead a family movie afternoon with cinnamon-and-sea-salt popcorn and a heavy duvet, the ideal rainy-day antidote to the week’s busyness and movement....
A Year in Nature: Winter
With the arrival of winter, Emine Kali Rushton hankers for fire, circles and cocoa... It’s the strangest thing: since life ‘returned to normal’ (“Ha!” my spirit cries, “Who are you...
The benefits of connecting with older generations
My daughter heads out of the door, excited to show her friend Val some photos from our travels and to discuss some plans for the next street party. They can chat for an eternity, laugh and giggle and usually share some tea and biscuits. Many of my daughter’s friends in the street are over 60, and at 70-something Val is one of them. In today’s society, disconnection between different generations is common, and sharing valuable skills, knowledge and friendship between young and old is rare. Instead of our elders being regarded as wise, a fount of knowledge of old ways and history, they are sadly all too often seen as just ‘old’, a burden, frail and forgotten. Some years ago we only knew our immediate neighbours and a couple of other people in the street, but after a chance encounter and a conscious effort to connect we have developed lasting...
The benefits of connecting with older generations
My daughter heads out of the door, excited to show her friend Val some photos from our travels and to discuss some plans for the next street party. They can...
A Year in Nature: Autumn
As the Wheel of the Year turns once more, Emine Kali Rushton leads us into the crisp, clear mornings and sweetest harvests of autumn... Ah, autumn. A time to let go. Slow down. Release. Savour. Our spring seeds are now fully-grown fruits. Abundance. Richness. Reaping what we have sown. This season, my nature journal is ablaze. This is the time when my family and I are most likely to venture out on long, meandering walks after lunch. Something about those golden canopies and leaf-lined paths beckons the inner child within us all: ‘Come dance, roll, play, delight.’ How many of us have fondest memories of scooping up armfuls of jewel-coloured leaves and tossing them about our heads? I love the autumn images you see on social media – the fruits of a forager’s walk laid out across the kitchen table, colours ebbing from blazing ruby to honeyed amber. Our tree...
A Year in Nature: Autumn
As the Wheel of the Year turns once more, Emine Kali Rushton leads us into the crisp, clear mornings and sweetest harvests of autumn... Ah, autumn. A time to let...
Sit Spot Activism: Kerry-Anne Martin seeks a se...
I am sure I am not alone when I speak of a feeling of disconnection and lack of belonging and a corresponding yearning to find rootedness and meaning within my community, place and wider world. In my early years I was moved around England and Wales. I relocated to Scotland as a young adult, first to Edinburgh, and later to the Isle of Skye, where I sought to ground myself once more in a community and somewhat failed. But I failed because I didn’t understand the cause of my feeling of separateness. Since becoming a mother and striving once more for a sense of belonging, to grow roots together with my son, I am discovering anew what it means to be connected. That I am part of a wider network of not just humans, but also animals, rivers, trees, plants and rocks. That it’s not a matter of where I...
Sit Spot Activism: Kerry-Anne Martin seeks a sense of connection
I am sure I am not alone when I speak of a feeling of disconnection and lack of belonging and a corresponding yearning to find rootedness and meaning within my...
How hawthorn can help your heart and give you c...
Hawthorn berries hang out side by side with rosehips in our native hedgerows in this, our most abundant season. It is time to harvest, preserve and store the berries in their various guises for the winter months ahead. Deeply nourishing for heart and soul, the hawthorn berries physically heal the heart, bringing us courage to face life’s toughest challenges and darkest winters. Description and habitat Full of the fire of Mars energy and heart medicine, this spiky, protective, robust, familiar hedgerow tree is often called May blossom. Its creamy white and pink flowers are out in force in the month of May, lining our roads and waysides and creating spring snowstorms in the wind. Both male and female blossoms are found on the same tree. The fruits create a riot of bright colour on dull winter days. Hawthorn is in the rose family and is distinguishable from the rosehips by...
How hawthorn can help your heart and give you courage
Hawthorn berries hang out side by side with rosehips in our native hedgerows in this, our most abundant season. It is time to harvest, preserve and store the berries in...
A recipe for vitamin C rich rose hip syrup
This tastes lovely drizzled on cakes, porridge, ice-cream and yogurt, in cocktails or with lemonade. Rose hips are berry-like fruit produced by rose plants. You will need 300g-500g rose hips* 600ml water 350g sugar *Rose hips are ripe and ready to pick when they are red and soft to touch but not shrivelled. Most people believe they taste best after the first frost of the year. To make First wash the freshly picked rose hips thoroughly and then chop them roughly into halves or pieces. Next place them in a saucepan with 600ml of water. Bring the water to the boil and then reduce the temperature to a simmer. Stir, and then continue to simmer and stir the mixture for 15 minutes. Now strain the mixture through a sieve or muslin cloth. Rose hips contain tiny hairs which can irritate our skin, so it’s important to strain the mixture properly...
A recipe for vitamin C rich rose hip syrup
This tastes lovely drizzled on cakes, porridge, ice-cream and yogurt, in cocktails or with lemonade. Rose hips are berry-like fruit produced by rose plants. You will need 300g-500g rose hips*...
How to make Venus Rob (elderberry syrup)
One of the best family remedies to help fight off winter colds is elderberry syrup. I have found this to be amazing at the onset of any cold or flu virus. The elderberries encourage the body to eliminate toxins via the skin through promoting sweating. Delicious and efficacious. Venus Rob Harvest the berries, including stalks. Place them in a big pan with a cinnamon stick, a few cloves, a knob of dried ginger or any other spices you fancy, and cover with water. Bring the water to the boil and gently simmer for 20 minutes. Mash the berries until the liquid looks a dark purple. Strain the liquid through muslin. Return it to the pan with 1lb of brown sugar (essential for preserving) per pint of liquid. Gently warm the liquid through again, stirring all the time. When it has started to go syrupy (after another 10-20 minutes), remove it...
How to make Venus Rob (elderberry syrup)
One of the best family remedies to help fight off winter colds is elderberry syrup. I have found this to be amazing at the onset of any cold or flu...